Returning to MP3 car after 7 years

Ok guys,

I've been out of the loop for about 7 years, built my carputer pre-PAD/Table days. Now trying to get back in it to put a new system in the car. Not sure where to start or if I really want to put a PC in the car now that there are Tablets and IPAD now. I am not really a big fan of the tables and pads in that you have to always have to buy an app. I like the fact that on a windows or linux machine, I can use the purchased sw on multiple pc's if needed. Anyhow I am looking at a 7"(HDMI) screen that can be seen in the daytime, fast boot time, navigation, internet, and something that can run off 12VDC.

Any ideas where to start?

Also, I am seeing the Ardurino controller, why so many versions and can it be integrated into the buy of the shelf software such as Centrafuse?

for a screen , I bought a pretty cheap led backlit lcd with touch without a frame , I am amazed by the sunlight readability

www.njytouch.com

I know its Chinese but everything is Chinese :P , they do have good customer support

for fast boot times , depends on hardware but I find having windows 7 embedded helps a lot , also very easy to change the logon and bootscreens on that.

I say going for a motherboard with embedded cpu like atom dual core or amd e350 , something like that

also SSd are nice to have these days :)




edit:

Arduinos are in many different shapes and sizes , but they have different functionality like the amount of analog and digital ports

If you see my worklog you can see an example for arduino use, but basically if you have the patience and skill to work with them you can do almost everything with them.

My next idea is to use an analog port for the dimmer , when I turn on my lights the screen goes to night mode.

Hey welcome back! Not sure what vehicle you got but for a good monitor I use the http://store.mp3car.com/Lilliput_669..._p/mon-123.htm Fusion brain or phidgets would be better for front end support SNO

I'm new to car pc's but after assembling my first one, I already started scoping out what components I want for the next one.

I know it's priced obscenely, however I want this 7" 1280 x 800 screen with the 1200nits LED backlight with multi-touch capacitive and extra video input options for $644

I was thinking I could do just fine with an Intel NUC barebones unit

Stuffed with Micron's Crucial 256GB mSATA drive and Crucial 16GB DDR3 memory kit

Power supplied with the Mini-box DCDC-USB-200 Intelligent DC-DC converter

And last but not least, an ODAC USB D to A converter board to get 2V RMS line out of the NUC.

This stuff would give me an extremely low power, yet high performance solution that could feed the highest quality audiophile's sound system, and the screen would be a visual joy to use.

There is so much more from when I was doing this oh so long ago. I guess my biggest thing I am looking for is a good power supply for powering up the MB. Back then I had an Opus power supply. Are there now DC to DC that Power up DC power supply built into the motherboard. Definitely a display where the sun doesn't wash everything out and I would like to the display to swipe to left, right up and down. I know that this takes a capictence type of touch screen to do this. Are these type of screen available for the carputer yet?

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Originally Posted by mp31023

There is so much more from when I was doing this oh so long ago. I guess my biggest thing I am looking for is a good power supply for powering up the MB. Back then I had an Opus power supply. Are there now DC to DC that Power up DC power supply built into the motherboard. Definitely a display where the sun doesn't wash everything out and I would like to the display to swipe to left, right up and down. I know that this takes a capictence type of touch screen to do this. Are these type of screen available for the carputer yet?

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I think the tablet installs seem to be much simpler, less components and less power demand. It depends on your apps also, there are alot of free apps and the ones that you may want aren't all that expensive. In my case I'm torn between the 2 but leaning more towards a tab now. I started a carpc build many years ago and never finished it, i still have the parts. The only thing I need a carpc instead of a tablet for is to do some tuning. If they ever get, or someone writes an app that can run tuning type setups like emanage, aem fic, and zeitronix components I could go 100% tablet. I'm sure someone can figure it out because these things use usb. The nexus 7 looks really good and has hi def capacitance touch.

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Originally Posted by maxgtr2000

I think the tablet installs seem to be much simpler, less components and less power demand. It depends on your apps also, there are alot of free apps and the ones that you may want aren't all that expensive. In my case I'm torn between the 2 but leaning more towards a tab now. I started a carpc build many years ago and never finished it, i still have the parts. The only thing I need a carpc instead of a tablet for is to do some tuning. If they ever get, or someone writes an app that can run tuning type setups like emanage, aem fic, and zeitronix components I could go 100% tablet. I'm sure someone can figure it out because these things use usb. The nexus 7 looks really good and has hi def capacitance touch.

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Yeah... I am starting to think a 7" tablet slate. I have a a windows slate now. Only thing I worry about with a slate table is running so many USB devices off of it. I would like a slate with a front end to launch from the Windows8 Also how to interface a back up camera too switch when in reverse. I think I will experiment with my current slate and put my old car pc in for now.... I can roll with crappy system until I figure out what I want to do. But if I can Music, net, GPS, back up camera, all seamlessly I will use a slate. I need to start investigating on slates that have an HDMI (MHL) output, at least 4 USB.. Or a USB hub that can be powered by 5 volts..... As I type this I think it may be easier to use a tablet.

Well I found out there are really any 7" tablets out there. So I decided I am going to go with my existing Slate that has HDMI output, connect that to an indash sunlight readable Lilliput double din. My only concerns are how many USB hubs can use. I need about 6 to do everything I need to do.

I use 11.6" exopc windows 7 tablets along with a ram mount 6 port usb hub for a client of mine in their transports. Never a problem with the hub or anything I plug into them. The drivers love the bigger screen being in a big rig. SNO

I had an Android head unit for a year, and overall I hated it. It had 2 USB's but no USB Host mode, so could not enumerate more USB devices, and was extremely slow reading song lists off flash drives. Often I would have to eject the drive then re-mount it, and wait a few minuted for my song list to read. More than 4GB, wait more than 4 minutes! Boot time was slow too.

Not trying to bash tablet installs at all, but the slow media read times, not being able to plug in a USB hub or connect a USB DAC for better sound quality (some tablets support this with propitiatory software), and no easy way to add other hardware means the PC is still the most flexible solution. You can also download the free Bluestacks software to run all your android apps on a PC.

There is concern with USB. Tablets need USB hub support, and USB DAC support

Android and iOS are the concerns here, not PC based tablets.